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What’s your severe weather risk?

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Recently, the United States experienced a once-in-a-lifetime weather event when temperatures dropped drastically to record lows.

The National Weather Service in Chicago predicted it would be the chilliest Arctic outbreak since records have been kept. Biting winds caused the wind chill to hit life-threatening lows. In Thief River Falls, the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature was -77° F!

The
real threat of the polar vortex was felt in the workplace as work days were
canceled, employees called in, and the post office shut down. “The words
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers
from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” – but the frigid
temperatures did, and as a result, delayed shipping for two days.

Severe
weather is becoming a more common risk to businesses worldwide. Houston, Texas
has had three 500-year floods in the last five years. The California wildfires
affected the agriculture industry, impacting wine, fruits, nuts, livestock, and
poultry production. The 2011 tsunami and subsequent nuclear event in Japan
caused a suspension of production of Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, and
Suzuki.

Enhance your organization’s inclement weather plan with more information and critical steps from this guide. Download The White Paper »

Risk
management means you’re prepared for an event and have procedures in place to
limit impact, but you have to know what you’re facing and be prepared with a
response. In case of bad weather, risk management is often emergency
preparedness. Do you know your severe weather risk? Here are three ways to
assess how severe weather could impact you:

1. Check location-specific concerns from the
past through a Google search.

If
you’re in the U.S. Midwest, you likely know tornado season is March – June.
Similarly, coastal states should check hurricane and typhoon seasons. Make a
list of threats and how often incidents occur. But don’t forget
lesser-thought-of risk events like polar vortexes, severe thunderstorms, dust
or hail storms, and blizzards.

2. Look at your supply chain and their severe
weather risks.

Your
office likely isn’t the only one who will face severe weather. If you get
components or products from another state or country, you need to know what
could affect them too. By listing risks for your supply chain, you can create
back up plans if a crisis happens.

3. Inventory operations that could be
disrupted by a weather event.

There
are many areas of operations that could be affected by severe weather. If a
power outage hits your call center, you’ll have angry customers on perpetual
hold. If a tornado hits your distribution center, you’ll be unable to send out
packages customers expect. Take an inventory of your operations and how severe
weather could impact them. Then order them by possibility and impact. Power
outages during storms are more likely than a flood in most cases, but a flood
could be more devastating.

Regardless of your location, being prepared for a weather emergency is a crucial part of managing risk. The threat of severe weather goes beyond just your base and can have long-lasting effects on your ability to maintain continuity of delivery.